Report CR017 2016 Somewhere in the world: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and its place in the global art market Tim Acker Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation Research Report CR017 ISBN: 978-1-74158-273-4 Citation Acker T. 2016. Somewhere in the world: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and its place in the global art market. CRC-REP Research Report CR017. Ninti One Limited, Alice Springs. Acknowledgement The Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation receives funding through the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centres Program. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of CRC-REP or its Participants. About the author Based in Canberra and employed by Curtin University, Tim Acker is the Principal Research Leader of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Economies project with the CRC-REP. Tim has worked with the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art sector since 1999. 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Somewhere in the world: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and its place in the global art market Tim Acker CRC-REP Research Report CR017 Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................ iii Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art: international context ............................................................. 4 Going global – looking back ................................................................................................................... 6 Going global – looking forward .............................................................................................................. 8 Ethnography vs. art ............................................................................................................................. 8 Financial and capacity limitations....................................................................................................... 9 Provenance and politics ...................................................................................................................... 9 Aesthetic and curatorial .................................................................................................................... 10 Cultural diplomacy or commercial drivers ....................................................................................... 11 Protection of moveable cultural heritage .......................................................................................... 11 Opportunities..................................................................................................................................... 11 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 12 References ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Tables Table 1: Exports of cultural goods .......................................................................................................... 4 Figures Figure 1: Australian auction sales, showing the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art compared to non–Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander art for the 10 years to 2013 ................ 5 Shortened forms AAB Aboriginal Arts Board AAC Aboriginal Arts and Crafts ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics GFC global financial crisis ii Somewhere in the world: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art Ninti One Limited and its place in the global art market CRC-REP Research Report CR017 Executive summary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is a distinctive feature of Australia’s cultural and creative landscape and a sizeable component of Australian identity. While the political dimensions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art remain much contested, the aesthetic and economic aspects are better established. Reflecting the prominent place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in Australian society, there have been – for over 40 years – numerous attempts to place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art into the global art market, as both a cultural experience and a commercial opportunity. This paper surveys the uneven history of these attempts and the often contradictory motivations at work. These attempts are given some context through statistical information, and the paper concludes with a summary of the current challenges and opportunities. Ninti One Limited Somewhere in the world: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art iii and its place in the global art market CRC-REP Research Report CR017 Introduction Two entangled stories characterise much of what is discussed and promoted about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art: economics and creativity (Altman 2005, Myers 2002). The economic story is a (relatively) straightforward one: that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are excluded (for a complex set of historical, geographic, social and political reasons) from economic opportunity, whether as employees or entrepreneurs. The sale of art is a means to reclaim some of this economic shortfall. The creative story is both more encompassing and more intangible: that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is, variously, Australia’s ‘greatest cultural gift to the world’ (Vanstone cited in Price 2005) and ‘the last great art movement of the 20th century’ (Hughes cited in Henly 2005). Extravagant claims aside, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art claims both a prominent part of Australian cultural identity and an enduring role in the social, cultural and economic life of remote communities, built, as it is, on one of ‘the longest running traditions of art in the world, dating back at least fifty millennia’ (Caruana 2003, p. 7). It is these elements that drive the promotion and sale of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art into international markets: the presentation of Australia’s unique contribution to the visual arts while generating income for disadvantaged artists. This paper aims to examine the history of attempts to build international audiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and to achieve some of the same recognition globally that has been secured domestically. While this paper is surveying one particular dimension of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, this sits within a complex and contested field of inquiry in Australia, reflecting the complicated and often difficult history between the original inhabitants and settlers in Australia. The scale of these debates is extensive, ranging from the historical and post-colonial through to issues of identity and sovereignty. Of necessity, this paper’s focus is more specific, though many of the same tensions exist in the visual arts domain. The trigger for these tensions is the very different world views of the artists and their audiences – the different value systems at work (Smith 2008). These value systems are then overlaid with further ambitions, with the art seen as a ‘redemptive political and civic project that has sought to affirm Indigenous presences and stimulate new versions of nationhood, heritage and intercultural fellowship’ (Fisher 2014, p. 240). The presentation and sale of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art to global audiences carries with it these layers, explaining some of the history and tactics that have unfolded over the last 40 years. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is very much an ‘art world’ as proposed by Becker (1982). Interdependent networks of people contribute to the production, distribution, sale and promotion of art from Australia’s first peoples. However, after four decades, this art world has become finely honed, operating more as Rodner and Thomson suggest in their description of an ‘art machine’ (2013). This machine has interlocking cogs, made up of artists, curators, critics, funders, galleries and consumers, whose combined efforts are focused on maximising the value (financial and cultural) of an artist’s work. It is these same cogs that have been enabled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art to be exhibited and sold internationally. This paper reviews, with two aims, the way different agents and instrumentalities have designed and delivered overseas opportunities. The first aim is to summarise this history, plotting the activities, successes and barriers that have shaped four decades of endeavour and,